Lifting Chair

ABSTRACT

A lifting chair having a chassis and a seat designed to move with respect to the chassis between a raised position and lowered position. A handling system drives the seat from the lowered position to the raised position and vice versa, and has a main winch and a secondary winch that are fixed to the chassis and, for each winch, a flexible link is provided. One of the ends of the flexible link is fixed to the seat and the other end is fixed to the drum of the winch. The flexible link connected to the main winch is tensioned and the flexible link connected to the secondary winch is relaxed. A synchronisation device is provided for driving the winding and unwinding of the flexible link connected to the secondary winch by a length equal to the length of winding and unwinding of the flexible link connected to the main winch.

The present invention concerns a lifting chair, in particular in the context of putting a person of reduced mobility in the water and bringing them out of the water in a swimming pool.

There exist numerous devices enabling a person of reduced mobility to be put in the water and brought out of the water in a swimming pool.

It may for example be a seat able to move along a mast fixed to the edge of the swimming pool basin. The seat is raised or lowered by means of a cable, one of the ends of which is fixed to the seat and the other end of which is fixed to a drum of a winch fixed to the mast.

Such a device does not necessarily have the necessary safety criteria in the event of breakage of the cable.

One object of the present invention is to propose a lifting chair that does not have the drawbacks of the prior art and in particular has a safety system preventing the seat and therefore the person sitting on the seat from falling.

To this end, a lifting chair is proposed comprising:

-   -   a chassis,     -   a seat designed to move with respect to the chassis between a         raised position and lowered position,     -   a handling system designed to drive the seat from the lowered         position to the raised position and vice versa, and comprising a         main winch and a secondary winch that are fixed to the chassis         and, for each winch, a flexible link one of the ends of which is         fixed to the seat and the other end of which is fixed to the         drum of the said winch, the flexible link connected to the main         winch being tensioned and the flexible link connected to the         secondary winch being relaxed, and     -   a synchronisation means comprising means for driving the winding         and unwinding of the flexible link connected to the secondary         winch by a length equal to the length of winding and unwinding         of the flexible link connected to the main winch.

Advantageously, the lifting chair comprises at least one beam; for the or each beam, one of the ends is mounted so as to rotate freely about a horizontal axis on the chassis and the other end is mounted so as to rotate freely about a horizontal axis on the seat.

Advantageously, the lifting chair comprises at least two parallel beams disposed one above the other.

Advantageously, the synchronisation means is a rigid plate mounted so as to rotate freely on each crank about the axis of the gripping part of the corresponding crank.

Advantageously, the lifting chair comprises a lever, one of the ends of which is mounted so as to rotate freely on the chassis and the other end of which is mounted so as to rotate freely on the synchronisation means, the two rotation axes of the lever being parallel to the rotation axes of the cranks and the rotation axis of the lever on the chassis not being contained in the plane passing through the rotation axes of the two cranks.

Advantageously, the seat has two arm rests that extend horizontally and each has a free end that is curved upwards.

The features of the invention mentioned above, as well as others, will emerge more clearly from a reading of the following description of an example embodiment, said description being given in relation to the accompanying drawings, among which:

FIG. 1 shows a lifting chair according to the invention,

FIGS. 2 a and 2 b show different steps of putting a lifting chair according to the invention in the water or bringing it out of the water,

FIG. 3 shows an enlargement of detail III in FIG. 1, and

FIG. 4 shows a side view of the detail in FIG. 3.

In the following description, the terms relating to a position are taken with reference to a lifting chair in the operating position, that is to say as shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 1 shows a lifting chair 1 that is disposed at the edge of the basin 10 of a swimming pool and comprises:

-   -   a chassis 102,     -   a seat 104 designed to move with respect to the chassis 102         between a raised position and a lowered position, and     -   a handling system 106 designed to drive the seat from the         lowered position to the raised position and vice versa.

FIG. 1 shows the lifting chair 100 when the seat 104 is raised and therefore out of the water.

FIG. 2 b shows the lifting chair 100 when the seat 104 is lowered and therefore in water.

FIG. 2 a shows the lifting chair 100 when the seat 104 is in an intermediate position between the raised position and the lowered position.

The chassis 102 can take various forms. In the embodiment of the invention presented in FIG. 1, the chassis 102 is mobile and takes the form of a carriage having wheels 108 enabling the lifting chair 100 to be run on the edge of the swimming pool.

The seat 104 is mounted so as to be able to move in rotation on the chassis 102 by means of at least one beam 110 that the said lifting chair 100 has.

One of the ends of the or each beam 110 is mounted so as to rotate freely about a horizontal axis on the chassis 102, and the other end of the or each beam 110 is mounted so as to rotate freely about a horizontal axis on the seat 104.

To prevent the seat 104 tilting about the pivot connection with the beam 110, at least two parallel beams 110 are arranged, one above the other.

FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 show an enlargement of the handling system 106 according to two different views.

The handling system 106 comprises a main winch 150 a and a secondary winch 150 b that are both fixed to the chassis 102 and, for each winch 150 a, 150 b, a flexible link 152 a, 152 b of the cable or strap type.

Each winch 150 a, 150 b has a drum, and a crank 202 a, 202 b that has a gripping part 206 a, 206 b intended to be gripped by an operator in order to turn the crank 202 a, 202 b and therefore the corresponding drum.

For each flexible link 152 a, 152 b, one of the ends is fixed to the seat 104 and the other end is fixed to the drum of the said winch 150 a, 150 b.

The two winches 150 a, 150 b have parallel winding axes, here horizontal and transverse with respect to the lifting chair 100.

The rotation of the crank 202 a of the main winch 150 a causes the unwinding and respectively the winding of the flexible link 152 a, and therefore the movement of the seat 104 from the raised position to the lowered position and vice versa. The length of the flexible link 152 a of the main winch 150 a is determined so as to remain tensioned throughout the travel of the seat 104.

The secondary winch 150 b serves as a safety system in the event of breakage of the flexible link 152 a connected to the main winch 150 a. The length of the flexible link 152 b connected to the secondary winch 105 b is therefore determined so as to be able also to cover the complete movement of the seat 104 between the raised position and the lowered position and vice versa while remaining slackened by a few centimetres.

Thus, in the event of breakage of the flexible link 152 a connected to the main winch 150 a, the seat 104 moves freely until the flexible link 152 b connected to the secondary winch 105 b is tensioned, that is to say until the slackened part of it is taken up.

So that the length of the slackened part of the flexible link 152 b connected to the secondary winch 105 b remains substantially constant throughout the movement of the seat 104, the two flexible links 152 a and 152 b must wind up and unwind in a synchronised manner, that is to say with the same length for one turn of the crank 202 a of the main winch 150 a.

For this purpose, the handling system 106 comprises a synchronisation means 204 designed to cause the winding and unwinding of the flexible link 152 b connected to the secondary winch 150 b by a length equal to the winding and unwinding length of the flexible link 152 a connected to the main winch 150 b.

Thus, when an operator turns the crank 202 a of the main winch 150 a, the crank 202 b of the secondary winch 150 b turns so as to wind or unwind an identical length of the flexible link 152 b.

Thus, even after breakage of the flexible link 152 a connected to the main winch 150 a, it is possible to continue to move the seat 104 by manoeuvring the crank 202 a of the main winch 150 a or the crank 202 b of the secondary winch 150 b.

Such a lifting chair 100 therefore has a safety system that prevents descent of the seat 104 even in the event of breakage of the flexible link 152 a of the main winch 150 a.

In the embodiment of the invention presented in the figures, the drums of the two winches 150 a and 150 b have identical diameters and the radii of the cranks 202 a and 202 b are equal so as to obtain the same winding length for a drum turn on the two winches 150 a and 150 b.

The synchronisation means 204 thus makes it possible in other words to drive the rotation of the drum of the secondary winch 150 b by a number of turns identical to that of the drum of the main winch 150 a.

The radius of a crank 202 a, 202 b is the distance between the rotation axis of the crank 202 a, 202 b and the axis of the gripping part 206 a, 206 b.

Here the rotation axes of the drums and cranks 202 a and 202 b are horizontal and transverse with respect to the lifting chair 100.

The synchronisation means 204 here takes the form of a rigid plate, here triangular, mounted so as to rotate freely on each crank 202 a, 202 b about the axis of the gripping part 206 a, 206 b of the corresponding crank 202 a, 202 b.

In the embodiment of the invention presented in FIGS. 3 and 4, the synchronisation means 204 has a first orifice fitted on the gripping part 206 a of one of the cranks 202 a, and a second orifice fitted on the gripping part 206 b of the other crank 202 b, the length of which has here been reduced for aesthetic reasons.

The plate 204 is fixed in height on the gripping parts 206 a and 206 b.

The length of the slackened part is variable but is preferably around 5 cm.

When the two cranks 202 a and 202 b are aligned in the plane passing through the two rotation axes, this constitutes two unstable positions and it may happen that the crank 202 b of the secondary winch 150 b turns in the direction opposite to the one desired, causing the winding or unwinding of the flexible link 152 b instead of causing respectively the unwinding or winding thereof.

To prevent this phenomenon, a lever 302 is mounted between the chassis 102 and the synchronisation means 204. The lever 302 has a length equal to the radii of the cranks 202 a and 202 b. One of the ends of the lever 302 is mounted so as to rotate freely on the chassis 102 and the other end is mounted so as to rotate freely on the synchronisation means 204. The two rotation axes of the lever 302 are parallel to the rotation axes of the cranks 202 a and 202 b. The rotation axis of the lever 302 on the chassis 102 is not contained in the plane passing through the rotation axes of the two cranks 202 a and 202 b.

The seat 104 has two armrests 112 that extend horizontally and each has a free end 114 that is curved upwards. Thus it is possible to place a stretcher on the two armrests 112 and this stretcher is held in position by means of the curved free ends 114.

Naturally the present invention is not limited to the examples and embodiments described and depicted but is capable of numerous variants accessible to a person skilled in the art.

For example, the chassis 102 can be fixed and take for example the form of a mast planted on the edge of the pool 10 and having a horizontal bracket at the top thereof.

The seat 104 is then fixed to two flexible links under the bracket and the two winches are fixed on the mast. Diversion means, such as pulleys, can be arranged on the travel of the flexible links in order to direct them from the seat to the winches. 

1) Lifting chair (100) comprising: a chassis (102), a seat (104) designed to move with respect to the chassis (102) between a raised position and lowered position, a handling system (106) designed to drive the seat from the lowered position to the raised position and vice versa, and comprising a main winch (150 a) and a secondary winch (150 b) that are fixed to the chassis (102) and, for each winch (150 a, 150 b), a flexible link (152 a, 152 b) one of the ends of which is fixed to the seat (104) and the other end of which is fixed to the drum of the said winch (150 a, 150 b), the flexible link (152 a) connected to the main winch (150 a) being tensioned and the flexible link (152 b) connected to the secondary winch (150 b) being relaxed, and a synchronisation means (204) comprising means for driving the winding and unwinding of the flexible link (152 b) connected to the secondary winch (150 b) by a length equal to the length of winding and unwinding of the flexible link (152 a) connected to the main winch (150 a). 2) Lifting chair (100) according to claim 1, wherein it further comprises at least one beam (110) and for the or each beam (110) one of the ends is mounted so as to rotate freely about a horizontal axis on the chassis (102), and the other end is mounted so as to rotate freely about a horizontal axis on the seat (104). 3) Lifting chair (100) according to claim 2, wherein it further comprises at least two parallel beams (110) arranged one above the other. 4) Lifting chair (100) according to claim 1, wherein the synchronisation means (204) is a rigid plate mounted so as to rotate freely on each crank (202 a, 202 b) about the axis of the gripping part (206 a, 206 b) of the corresponding crank (202 a, 202 b). 5) Lifting chair (100) according to claim 4, wherein it further comprises a lever (302) one of the ends of which is mounted so as to rotate freely on the chassis (102) and the other end of which is mounted so as to rotate freely on the synchronisation means (204), the two rotation axes of the lever (302) being parallel to the rotation axes of the cranks (202 a, 202 b) and the rotation axis of the lever (302) on the chassis (102) not being contained in the plane passing through the rotation axes of the two cranks (202 a, 202 b). 6) Lifting chair (100) according to claim 1, wherein the seat (104) has two armrests (112) that extend horizontally and each has a free end (114) that is curved upwards. 